Lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12, hereinafter referred to as LTO) is expected to be used as an anode active material for a lithium secondary battery.
As a method of preparing LTO, for example, a solid phase method and a sol-gel method are used.
In a solid phase method, solid-phase reactants are mixed and heated to prepare LTO. However, due to the high heating temperature, it is difficult to obtain uniform nanoparticles. Also, to manufacture such uniform nanoparticles, micro-particle powder reactants are required. Accordingly, a dependency on reactants is high and thus economic efficiency reduces.
In a sol-gel method, a metal alkoxide is transformed into a sol state and then gelled through condensation reaction, followed by drying and heating to prepare LTO. However, reactants used in this method are expensive and also, this method is based on an organic solvent. Accordingly, manufacturing costs are high and thus commercialization of this method has not been realized.